Decks are now clear for Maoist sympathiser Dandapani Mohanty to walk free from jail after the Orissa High Court on Tuesday granted him conditional bail on the last and final of the 24 cases, in which he was entangled by police.
Arrested on sedition charges in February 2013, the 70-year-old activist is currently lodged in the Brahmapur jail. Allowing his bail application, Justice CR Dash ordered the trial court in Brahmapur to release him after imposing conditions deemed fit.
Along with the sedition charges of waging war against the State, Mohanty was implicated in 24 cases by police, most of which were related to Maoist violence. While the trial court had acquitted him in 19 of those cases, the High Court had earlier granted him bail in the remaining four.
“All the cases registered against my client were false and politically motivated. He was utilised by the State Government to mediate with the Maoists for resolving critical abduction crises. But when he criticised the Government’s faulty stand on Maoist issues, he was framed and booked on false charges,” said his counsel Prashant Jena.